domesticated

adjective

do·​mes·​ti·​cat·​ed də-ˈme-sti-ˌkā-təd 

1

: adapted over time (as by selective breeding) from a wild or natural state to life in close association with and to the benefit of humans

The Incas used one of the first domesticated animals, the llama, to carry goods.

—Carolyn Gard

Because both wildlife and domesticated pets can be unpredictable, instruct your child to first inform you or another adult if she finds a sick or injured animal.

—Arliss Ryan

Scientists expressed concern that the foreign genes could act to reduce genetic diversity in the country's native corn varieties and in the wild progenitor of domesticated corn, known as teosinte.

—Carol Kaesuk Yoon

While the seeds of wild wheat readily fall off the plant and scatter, a change in two genes meant that in domesticated wheat, the seeds remained attached to the stalk; it is this trait that enabled humans to harvest wheat.

—Assaf Distelfeld

2

: made fit for domestic life : adapted to life in a household

After 30 years of marriage, I have documented here many times that I am a thoroughly domesticated creature.

—Dave Simpson

3

: brought to the level of ordinary people (as by being expressed in understandable terms)

Darwin wrote like a Victorian, a rich, romantic, yet domesticated prose, refusing technical obscurity for directness, clarity and precision in his representation of the natural world.

—George Levine

Synonyms

• domestic
• tame
• tamed

Examples of domesticated in a Sentence

the domesticated horses are kept in a corral

Word History

First Known Use

1639, in the meaning defined at sense 3